Thoughts on Atheism

Differences in religious views can seem like a divisive issue, but in truth I live my life pretty much the same way you live yours. I have hopes, concerns, moral dilemmas, ambitions, joys, and woes.

I am an Atheist. The word comes attached with a great deal of unfortunate stigmas, but it means a lot less than it appears. It only means that I do not hold any religious faith.

I have a strong sense of morals and do not feel the need, or even the temptation, to “live a life of sin.” I strongly feel hope and purpose in my life. I feel that I should do the right thing not because I am afraid of some punishment (Hell), but because I believe it is right. I believe kindness to our fellow human beings should be done for its own sake, and no fear is necessary to bring out our better natures.

In rejecting all religious faiths, I do not and do not attempt to disparage religious beliefs or religious believers unduly. I simply do what everyone else does on a slightly larger scale. A Christian actively believes that the story of the Quran is a fictional myth. A Hindu rejects the teachings of Buddha. I reject all religions, not out of hatred or fear or shame, but out of Reason. There simply isn’t any valid, debatable evidence that one of these faiths is correct and the others are wrong. I have been told on many occasions that what is paramount is not a reasoned opinion based on evidence, but faith. I am often asked to open my heart to faith, and then accept the Creator.

Instead of opening my heart to Faith, I would instead ask you to open your eyes to Reason. Faith does not answer a single question. It simply accepts that certain things cannot be understood and decides that believing is best. The evidence suggests that all mythologies are just that: mythologies. In my mind, Zeus is just as much a fictional character as Yahweh or Allah or Shiva. But putting the evidence aside, I still feel no reason to believe. Christians ask me to believe in a God who is all-loving but still allows disease, natural disasters, war, rape, and murder. In fact, if I read the Bible I find that not only does God allow these acts, in many places he actually causes them or orders his subjects to carry them out in His name.

Reason, on the other hand, asks nothing. There is no fear of Hell, no shame for sins, no obedience required, no tall tales to be believed. Reason only asks you to use your own mind. If reason could be reduced to a three word phrase, it would be “think for yourself.” Reason asks what is true and what isn’t, by a verifiable, testable standard. While Reason and Atheism allow people the freedom use their own minds and come to their own conclusions, there is also a great deal of thought on the most important issues at hand available to the non-believer. There is nothing Faith provides that is outside the realm of Reason.

Religion often claims to know the exclusive answer to how we got here, but I think Charles Darwin did a pretty good job explaining that. Pretty good, but not perfect, which is why scientists have used new knowledge and information to alter and expand Darwin’s theory since its inception. There is nothing so sacred that it is beyond question or improvement in the realm of Reason. Criticism, dissent, and new ways of thinking are necessary to advance and improve.

If you are looking for justice and right and wrong, there is already a great deal of theory ready for analysis. Our entire legal system in America is a secular system. Legislators from different faiths and beliefs have been tweaking what we view as to what we as a nation should allow for over 200 years. Often, Christians claim this country was founded on their beliefs, but of the 10 commandments, only 3 of them have ever been law (stealing, killing, and bearing false witness: the three that are practical to prohibit in society anyway.) No belief has ever been required and religious tests for office are explicitly prohibited.

As I have shown earlier, hope and morality and purpose are not concepts that belong to Faith. This life is the only one I’ll ever get, so I’m going to live it to the fullest, with happiness, kindness, and passion.

I am often asked why I need to talk about my beliefs, instead of merely keeping them private. I don’t, for example, talk the same way about my disbelief in horoscopes, though I consider them to be equally erroneous as religion. It is because I feel that often, religion causes harm. It establishes a divine tyrant . In extreme cases, it propels individuals to mass murder, like the Spanish Inquisition, or more recently the 9/11 attacks. In more moderate cases, it can excuse (or cause) negative behavior towards women or minorities. Even without this, there is often a specter of fear, shame, and guilt accompanying religious belief that is completely needless. As we have seen recently with incidences like the Ted Haggard scandal such feelings and beliefs do little to prevent what they hope to discourage. One important difference to note is that while there have been evil acts done by Atheists, they were not in the name of Atheism.

Most people who are religious do not live their life all that different than how I live mine, but just the same, I’d prefer it if whatever it is causing the incidences in the previous paragraph no longer existed. Religious persecution is as old as recorded history, and is at the root of arguably the majority of historical conflicts. The differences in our religions, and their mutual claims of infallibility, inevitably lead to conflict.

There is one last important point that needs to be mentioned about Atheism. I was recently watching a television program in which the host claimed that his Atheist guest was “believing he was right and everybody else was wrong.” I don’t believe I’m right and that everyone is wrong. I think the evidence suggests that we, doing independent reasoning on our own, can come up with far better ideas than ancient myths. I don’t claim to know all the answers, or own a book containing them, or serve somebody claiming to have them in their possession.

I’m claiming that you and I are better off rejecting what is false and harmful and choosing our own paths in life.

If you'd like to learn more about Atheism, here is my article on the best Atheist web sites .

Note: I originally write this piece under a different byline here.